Fire Captain Dom Filippelli has been a first responder for over 20 years, starting out as a paramedic and now a Barrie Firefighter.
Filippelli says there's been a 'huge increase' in the number of overdose calls.
"It is not uncommon to go to multiple types of opioid overdoses, even on one shift," said Filippelli.
It's a societal crisis in Canada that's been creeping into Barrie where on one night last October, police, fire and paramedics responded to five near fatal overdoses in less than an hour.
In response to the growing numbers, Barrie Fire and Barrie Police will be equipped with the life-saving, nasal spray naloxone.
Fire Chief Bill Boyes says his fire department is the first in Ontario to administer the opioid antidote.
Not only will it save lives, it will also protect first responders who may be contaminated trying to revive an overdose patient, according to Fillippelli.
The veteran front-line first responder notes the types of patients they see might surprise some people.
"It's sad overall with the amount of calls that we go to but the amount of young patients that we see in these overdose states - between late teens to late twenties," he said.
And he says it could be your neighbour.
"You're not just going into an alley like the footage we see sometimes from downtown Vancouver. We're going into people's homes that have 9 to 5 jobs, whether it's them directly getting hooked on opioids or a son or daughter. It's just not the person on the streets or a person we think has a chronic drug use problem."
Police, firefighters and paramedics look for clinical features of an overdose and oftentimes the patients are near death and will die without intervention.
And that's where the naloxone comes in just like the defibrillator and the EpiPen.
"Another tool in the tool box that is life-saving, which is a lot of times the state that we find them in. They're in a state that they are very close if not dead."
Dr. Ian Young, Medical Director of Barrie Fire and Emergency Service, warns the antidote is just that.
"We're not going to fix the problem. What we're trying to do is save a life," he said.
"If one person we can revive who becomes aware that they have an opioid issue and this is the intervention for them to go get further help, then I think we've done our job."
Young says the drugs will keep coming in and being misused either through legal channels from prescriptions or from China in raw powder form.
Often that powder is being mixed and sold by dealers pretending to be one drug when it's actually a more potent drug.
The naloxone is about second chances, says Young.
"Or third chance or fourth chance, a lot of times with the opioid problems. It's not a one time offer. Hopefully at some point the person will get some help."
The nasal product has been available in the U.S. for a long time but efforts through first responders out west got it fast-tracked into Canada, says Young.
The Health Protection Branch Canada has allowed the drug to come in with American packaging and not even through Canadian distribution, he notes.
"It's an indication of how quickly things are evolving and how much of a crisis this is and how much first responders want to get this out and help people," said Young.
Training is underway on exactly how to administer the nasal spray and all front line firefighters and police should be equipped with naloxone by the end of February.
